mistformsquirrel

So, I'm a big fan of TVTropes and it's way of looking at fiction. Looking at common tropes, identifying their use, what they mean both in their original context and in a present context and the reason behind those things. I think it's just... fun, and useful, if you've any interest in creating fiction of your own. Because even if you don't realize it, you will use tropes in your work - either playing them straight, subverting them, averting them or otherwise playing around with them.

And there's a classic trope of using the Seven Deadly Sins in various ways - often as a group of villains themed after each, though sometimes just as a general concept within a given story.

Thing is though... while the concepts behind those sins are largely evergreen, the terminology is archaic enough (and sometimes laden with so many specific examples of use) that I think they've kinda lost their bite a bit, or veer into unfortunate implications unintentionally.

So I figure 'hey, I'm waking up, I need to do something before I get into my drawing for the day... let's write some ideas down!'

First the ones I don't think need any updating and why:

Wrath - I genuinely think this one is almost completely evergreen, as I don't know if there will ever be an age in human history in which we are free of "I am so furious I will do violence to someone". It'd be nice, but, it's one of our very human flaws. - I will note that Wrath and Anger are not the same thing.

Wrath is, in my eyes at least, very specifically about letting those feelings overwhelm you and letting them drive you into violence. It's not enough to just be mad about a situation for it to qualify as Wrath.

Envy - Similar to wrath, it's just a regular old human vice that's probably never gonna go away. The root of it 'I want what you have' isn't even a bad thing entirely - that's how new ideas spread even. But it of course becomes a problem when you go from just "Oh that's nice, I'd like that too" to "I want what you have and I don't care what I have to do or who I have to hurt to get it." and often tacks on "... and I don't want you to have it either."

It's cool to think "oh, my neighbor has a great BBQ, I should see about one like that next time I'm looking for one" and it's even fine to think "My neighbor has a nice BBQ and I can't afford one at all cause socio-economic unfairness bullshit" - but it's not fine to then steal your neighbors BBQ. I guess unless your neighbor is like, Jeff Bezos. But I doubt he even has a bbq tbh and you probably don't live near him if you want but can't afford one.

Greed - Hooboy... you wanna talk evergreen sins (heh...). Again though, it ain't just about "I would like more than i presently have" - Greed is more specifically "I want more and more and more and I don't care how I get it, who I hurt or who goes without because of me."

It's the difference between "Ordinary person would like to pay the bills and maybe have a nice TV or something" and "Yeah I'm going to do everything I can to make money even though I already have enough to start my own space program." I probably don't need to say anymore here.

--- Now the Updated ones ---

Narcissism, replacing Pride - The update here is less to the concept, and more to the name. Pride, in a modern context, has multiple definitions and they aren't necessarily that closely related. You can be proud in the sense of "Hey, I did a thing and did it well. I feel pretty good about that!" - and that's super valid. You can be proud in the sense of "I am embracing who I am in the face of discrimination, I'm queer/black/latino/a/disabled and I'm valid"... but you can also be proud in the sense of the classic meaning - arrogance, self-centeredness, self-belief to the extent that you can't comprehend your own incorrectness.

Thus the change in name - Narcissism, is basically a level of super-self involvement where the needs of those you affect are completely supplanted in your concern by your own wants. "I am the best, everyone and everything should bend over backwards for me or they can go to hell." essentially.

Lust - So, this one is... complicated. There's 100% a valid way of looking at Lust and saying 'that's fucked up' - when you treat another person as an object for your own gratification*, but there's also a loooooot of extremely old and frankly harmful views tacked onto the idea of lust as a sin.

I'm actually not entirely sure how to do this one properly because I'm not sure how you separate the two with a pithy single word that captures the difference between 'healthy consenting sexual relationships' and 'being a predator'. Like, there's a big difference between "oh that person is kinda hot" and grabbing their butt without permission.

I dunno, you got a good name for this one?

Indifference replacing Sloth - Sloth... has always been a real problematic one in this list imo. It fundamentally fails to understand things like depression, disability, ADHD and related conditions that cause executive dysfunction (and thus make it difficult to go from "I need to do this" to actually doing the thing).

But I think the essence of the sin really is apathy to others. An uncaringness that just sort of says "yeah whatever" to someone, or maybe even laughs at their misfortune. An abuse of neglect. Note that it only applies if you're in a position to do something and don't. If someone dies in a car crash across town, you're probably not Indifferent, but if someone is drowning right in front of you and you don't even try to call for help? Yeah, that's Indifference. As with all things, the classic Spider-Man line of 'with great power comes great responsibility' is a good benchmark.

Wastefulness replacing Gluttony - This is really just a rename - the concept of Gluttony in the classic sense, as I understand it at least, is just overconsumption of... anything, without regard. And unfortunately media use tends to lean on the easy crutch of 'overeating' is all Gluttony is. Which is... not great.

I feel like the real heart of this sin is basically taking more than you need or even plan to use, just because it's there and you can. It's the difference between, to go back to 2020 for moment (sorry), buying a pack of toilet paper... and hoarding 200 packs of toilet paper.

Or choosing overcomplicated packaging for your products when something much simpler (and thus less wasteful) could get the job done just as well. Or fast food places throwing away tons of food while people starve. That kinda thing.

It's the same concept, just... more broadly applied and named in a way that explains what it is in a way modern ears can understand it without immediately jumping to 'haha fatty'.

--- Anyway this is just kind of a random thing I was thinking about as I drink my coffee. Feel free to chime in if you've got any ideas! This is just for fun really! --- *I mean unless they're into that. But then it's not this. That's just kinky.

If you're just spamming unmodified AI 'art', then yeah I've probably blocked you.

I'm not mad at *you* personally though. You're using a technology and enjoying it and that's great. I'm happy for you. What I am not happy about is everything around this new technology.

The way it acts as a cultural mulching machine, chewing up decades of hard work by human artists, many of whom struggle to get by, and then spitting out the regurgitated fragments is... deeply upsetting. Especially since those human artists who've been fed into the machine got no say in the matter, no compensation, not even a warning. Just *bam* 'your hard work has been used to fuel the probable decimation of your livelihood.

I'm not even at the point where I was making money - I *just* went back to school for art - something I'd been wanting to do since I was a kid but didn't have the guts to try when I was fresh out of highschool - and now it's like "well shit, why am I even fucking bothering?" - I mean I know why - I love art. I love to draw. Depending on your preferences I may or may not be any good at it, but I love doing it. I'll continue doing it too, machines or no, because it's my passion.

But it does mean that even if I graduate, even if I can keep my student debt low, there's a pretty good chance that my ability to make money after graduation has been shot to hell. Meaning that decades of work trying to teach myself, all the effort I put into getting healthy enough to *go* back to school - all for nothing.

The thing is? I wouldn't care if we didn't need money to get by. If everyone had enough to eat, shelter, medical care etc... then this would be a fantastic technology; because everyone could create as they prefer. People who prefer to create by hand would be able to just keep creating, cause they love it, and people who enjoy being able to just put their imagination down in digital form? More power to em.

But we don't live in that world. We live in a world where big corps will use anything they can to cut their own costs, and they consider labor just that, a cost to be cut. So they'll cut away as many artists as they can and underpay the rest (same as already, but more severe) - leaving the rest of us scrabbling with each other for the scraps.

So I'm not blocking you because your AI 'art' spam is bad, or because I don't like you. I'm blocking you for my mental health. I'm blocking you because I'm pissed that someone decided of all the things to try to automate they'd choose art. I'm blocking you because what tiny hopes I had of a decent future for myself - already slim being a disabled queer person with severe mental health issues - feel like they've gone up in smoke over the last few months and this is the only defense I'm able to muster.

As far as whoever came up with this stuff - You couldn't automate something no one enjoys doing? You had to choose to work on automating a field people work their asses off willingly to get good at, actively get mad at themselves at when they aren't doing as well as they want - a field in which people will literally overwork themselves *for fun* because they enjoy what they do? The actual fuck. You get mad an artist once told you 'well they'll never automate art' and decide that you'd show them? Congratufuckinglations. The one thing that always kept me going, always kept me striving for a goal despite nearly killing myself multiple times, and you've basically killed any potential I may have once had to make a living.

Again, this problem goes away if money ceases to be an issue. Ultimately the cause of the problem is at it's core, laissez-faire capitalism and all it's vices. But that's where we are right now. Unless the world changes dramatically in a good way (hey, I try to be an optimist despite how bitter this post is) in a very short time, it just feels like one more gut punch after a lifetime of gut punches.

Like I said, I'm going to keep creating. That's never going to stop, money be damned. I *enjoy* art. I'm just pissed that I was already struggling to get anyone to care about what I do, and now people many times better than me are going to suffer the same. Which just shoves me even further down on the tier list.

So yeah, summed up - I don't hate you if you're enjoying AI - go for it, I'm glad you're happy, but I can't look at what the culture mulch machine produces for you. I just can't. Please tag your work with AI in some capacity so my filter will catch it, then I won't have to block you individually and we can both have a slightly nicer day.

I don't even hate you if you developed the AIs in question (though I seriously question your priorities).

I do hate that I live in a world where the one thing I may have had a shot at doing that would be both fulfilling and give me even a shred of a chance at an OK living despite my disabilities is just... gone.

And I mean, sure I could turn to writing - but for how long? If they can automate art they can automate anything. Novels, eventually even comics probably.

I just don't belong on this world anymore but it's not like there's anywhere else to go.

Fucking hell.

Sorry for the bitterness. Like I said, not quitting, just pissed and needed to vent. Hopefully some way, some how, my worst feelings about this will turn out to be misguided. No one can see all ends, so maybe this will work out somehow.

Anyway, first star on the left, straight on till morning. Just gonna try to enjoy my time back in college and hope shit works out somehow.

*edit* One other thing that's pissing me off about this - it makes me extremely hesitant to give out likes. Because I know some people really are *fucking awesome* digital painters and absolutely deserve my attention. But when people refuse to tag their work with AI if it's AI generated (I make exceptions for paint overs or other serious modification of the AI's work - if you're like, actually doing the work? Then yeah it's nbd, we're cool. That's just using reference basically.) - but it makes me feel like "I see this cool piece but I can't be sure if its legit" And I hate feeling like that. HATE it. Because honestly? I'd love to live in a world where it didn't matter how the picture came to be, I could just enjoy it for what it is.

But I don't live in that world, and so I can't. *Fuck*.

So first off, very sorry I've not been particularly active here over the past several months. A lot of that has been getting used to the ipad, which is my new drawing tool of choice - it's been a huge (but positive!) adjustment. I just haven't put together much with it that I've felt is worth putting up just yet (soon though!)

I've also had some personal health issues (not Covid stuff, thankfully, but still personally taxing); so that's kinda been an energy and time suck on me.

However I do have some more general life news that's pretty positive!

I am going back to school - and specifically for art this time! Specifically to Illinois State University, where previously I'd taken English courses but had to drop out due to a combination of severe stress and a car accident.

I am... thrilled frankly. Shocked I got in even - to have my art even get me in the door at all is just really affirming on some level? I know this is just Step 1 of a much longer process, and there's a lot of hard work ahead, but, it's just really validating to know that I haven't spent all this time and effort working at it for nothing, you know?

Really excited. Still got a fair few things to do to prep for this fall.

Coolest bit? Classes I'm taking are Animation and Stop Motion, and also a class on Comics and Sequential Art. Ie: Basically *My exact jams*.

It's been a long climb and I'm still at the relative foothills of this mountain... but I'm still climbing!

I am presently seeking constructive criticism on my more recent art (anything from the last year and a half or so).

Long story short, I'm really hoping to finally get to a level where I feel like I could start taking commissions and freelance work by the end of the year. I'm not there yet, but I think it's achievable.

That said, I have relatively little formal art training and have been piecing my digital art skills together for the past 14 or so years on and off with long periods of inactivity.

Needless to say, progress has been spotty and I'm kind of at a point where I need ideas on what I can improve so I at least know what kind of tutorials to look up or what I need to practice. So if you've got suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I do ask they be constructive and as gentle as you can manage; like I already know my art isn't great, what I need is ideas on what can be improved and maybe also how.

So uh... yeah, I guess that's really all there is - if you've got constructive criticism, please send it my way if you have the time and energy to do so. Thanks!